Shallow-water propeller.



N0. 634,664. Patened C. l0, |399. V. A. GATES` SHALLUW WATER PBOPELLER.

1N: mms PErERs cav, PHOTO-urac.. msu umm n l.

-zen of the United States,

UNITED STATES.v

PATENT OFFICE.

VIRGIL" A. GATES, OF CHARLESTON, VEST VIRGINIA.

i SHALLOW-WATER PROPELLER.

srnorrroa'rron forming part of Leners raient No. 634,664, dated october 1o, ieee. y Application filed September 2l, 189g. Serial No. 691,529. (N0 model.)

T all whom, i5-7mm; concern:

Be it knownthat I, VIRGIL A. GATES, a citi residing'at Charleston, in the county of Kanawha and State of West Virginia, have invented a new and useful Shallow-Water Propeller, of which vthe following is aV specification.

Myinvention relates to paddle-wheels, and particularly to a propeller for iioating craft, the same being adapted and the objects in view are tol provide such a construction and relative arrangement of paddles or blades as to concentrate the liqu id whereby the maximum resistance may be odered to themovement of the wheel through Y vthe water, to provide means whereby the overflowing or dooding of the paddles or blades, and hence the congestion of the wheel,

wheel.

Further objects and advantages of this in- 1 vention will appear inthe following descrip.

4 tion, and the novel features thereof will be particularly'pointed out yin the appended claims. f, ,l Inthe drawings, Figure l i-sa front view of a propeller constrnctedin accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is an end view ofr the same. v v

Similar numerals and letters ofreference indicate .corresponding parts in both. figures 'of the drawings.y

The wheel embodyingk my invention consists, essentially, of a shaft l, from vwhich radiate spokes 2, carrying a cylindrical shell, beyond whichand attached to extensions of the spokes are arranged the diagonally-dis-- posed paddlesjor blades 4.

I prefer in practice to arrange my improved propeller in the position of a stern-wheelv and so mount it that a pluralityof the paddles or blades will be simultaneously submerged, and inorder that the concentration -of `the liquid at the center of the wheel may be accomplished, I dispose the blades in two parallel annular series, with the blades in each series dis-posed diagonally with relation to the axis The two parallel series of blades to operate eciently and economically in shallow water and where only a portion of the wheel can be submerged;`

diagonally-disposed lateral.

' of rotation and with their outer extremities in advance of their inner extremities or, in other words, inclinin g rearwardly toward 'their inner ends, as will be seen by reference to Fig. I, wherein the arrow indicates the direction of rotation of the wheel in operation. are preferably carried by a common frame, with the ternately disposed--that is, with the inner extremity of a blade in one series located midway Y between the inner ends of adjacent blades in the other series land with said inner extremities of the blades inthe two series overlapping or extending, respectively, beyond a line arranged in a plane midway between the centers of the two series of blades. My object in thus overlapping the inner ends of the blades or extending them respectively beyond a common rcenter line of the propeller is to avoid forming-a central unobstructed passage through which Water may pass to relieve the pressure at the center of the wheel. By overlapping the innervextremities of theblades while not tact I provide for relieving the pressure sufficiently to avoid Vcongesting the wheel without "losing any ofA the effective pressure of the blades upon the water. g The wheel will relieve itself of the water at the proper time, as after each blade has accomplished its desired function; but while a blade is in operation it will1have the maximum efficiency of pressure upon the liquid. Also by inclining ithe blades fromtheir outer ends rearwardly forwardly and rearthat the references with relation ,to the diwardly are applied tion (it being well understood that water is toward theirinner'ends (it will be understood l ,rection of movement of the wheel and not tov is attained. This tendency toward condensap linner ends of the blades in the two series als arranging the said inner extremities in con-rV 1 blade of the other series.

a practically incompressible fluid) is accomplished without the overflowing or ilooding of the blades by reason of the use in connection with the diagonally-disposed blades of the shell 3, in contact with which the inner edges of the blades or those edges toward the axis of movement are arranged,it being well known that without the use o t` a shell the tendency of the Water toward the center of the wheel byreason of the diagonal disposition of the blades will cause the Water to rise at the inner ends of the blades, and thus congest the Wheel and interfere with the efficient purchase of the blades upon the water. It is-my object to condense the water as far as practicable toward the center of the wheel while preventing this congestion, and I have found that by the use of the shell I cause the surplus water to pass downwardly from the wheel instead of upwardly over the paddles, and thus'tend to increase the density of the liquid and add to rather than detract from the efficient pressure of the paddles upon the Water.

In developing my invention I have adopted a certain peculiar construction and relative arrangement of parts particularly adapted for giving the necessary strength to the Wheel and insuring the operation of the same under conditions involving a severe test without .the tendency of tearing the wheel apart by reason of the above-described gathering of the Water from the sides toward the center. It will be understood 'that the diagonal disposition of the blades exercises a powerful lateral strain upon the wheel, and unless the construction is adapted to resist this strain there is liability of separation of the wheel upon a line between the two parallel series of blades. Hence in practice I employ for each blade a plurality of spokes which in the following description II will refer to as inner and outer spokes 2n and 2b and an intermediate spoke 2, the intermediate spoke 2c being arranged in a plane midway between the planes ofthe inner and outer spokes and the inner spokes of the two series of blades being arranged in adjacent parallel planes, whereby the extension of theblades slight-ly beyond their inner spokes causes the abov described overlapping of their extremities, which secures the discharge of the water from the operative face of a blade of one series upon the operative face of an adjacent In order that the above described diagonal position of the blades may be attained, the inner and outer and-intermediate spokes to which a blade is attached are arranged with their outer ends upon a diagonal line ora line which is disposed diagonally with relation to the direction of movement of the surface of the Wheel or, in other words, to the path of the blades, and the rigidity ofthe structure is increased by attaching the bladesto portions of the spokes which are extended through and be- I yond the shell 3. Obviously the blade should i be arranged in contact with the front sides of the spoke extensions, whereby said spoke extensions may receive the back pressure of the blades.

The shell consists tof annular ribs or rings 5, attached to the spokes at intermediate points of the latter, and slats or staves 6, secured to the exterior surfaces of the ribs or rings and extending transversely or parallel with the axisof the wheel, each slat being of a width less than the angular distance between the front and rear edges of a blade, whereby each blade overlaps or is arranged at its inner edge in contact with a plurality of slats. In practice, and in order to simplify the construction of the wheel and at the same time insurethe maximum strength, I use a width of slat which is equal to the angular interval between each terminal spoke 2 or 2b and the intermediate spoke 2e of the same series and arrange the inner spokes of the two series at an angular interval corresponding with the angular interval between a terminal spoke and the intermediate spoke of each series. In other words, the interval hea tween the inner terminal spokes of each series is equal to the combined width of two slats,

and arranged between these two inner spokes of the same series is an inner spoke of the other series. Each slat is notched at its forward edge to receive a plurality of the projecting portions of the spokes, and by the above-described arrangement of spokes it will be seen that each slat is provided with notches forengaging three spokes-namely, two spokes of one series and one spoke of the other-and while one slat is positively engaged with two spokes of a given series and one spoke of the other series the next slat is engaged with only one spoke of the first-named series and two l spokes of the second-named series. Thus a stronginterlockingconnection -is provided between the two parts or members, so to speak, of the wheel, and as each slat'is continuous from one end of the wheel to the other by preference the st raining apart of the two members or sections is effectually prevente In the construction illustrated each spoke supporting a given blade is engaged by a notch formed in a different slat, whereby the strain applied to a given blade and communicated, obviously, to the spokes supporting the same is not communicated to the same slat, but to three different slats, and as the extremities of each blade are extended beyond the terminal spokes to which said blade is attached it will be seen that each blade overlaps or lies at its inner edge in contact with four slats, and at the same time it will be seen that each slat is overlapped by four. different blades or by two blades in each series, the points of contact of said twoblades with a common slat being spaced apart, whereby the slats and blades mutually support each other. Taking the blade, d for example, it will be seen that it is arranged at its inner end between the innerextremities of the blades b and c of the loo IIO

A with the Water, 5 ranged transversely to their direction of movethe inner edge of the blade b of the other series, and, furthermore,l said slat d is over- .v lapped bythe outer portion of the edge of the 1o blade i, which is in the same series with the blade b. Thus the slat 617s overlapped by the blades h a b t', two of which are in each series. The slat f is overlapped by the blades a, lo, c, and b, the blades ct and 7c being in one series and the blades c and b in the other se- Y ries; but while the slat d is engaged with the terminal inner and outer spokes l and m of 4one series and the intermediate spoke n of the other series the next slat f is engaged with zo the intermediate vspoke o of the first-named series and the terminal inner and outer spokes p and q of the second-named series.

From the above description it Will be seenthat the strongly-interlocked construction of 2 5 the wheel embodying my invention is adapted for resisting the various strains, longitudinal and transverse, to which a device of this class is subjected in operation and that by reason Y of the relative disposition of the blades in the 3o two series an efficient purchase of said blades -upon the Water is insured to economize power in the propulsion of a craft Without causing the slap of the blades in coming `in contact as when the blades are arment, and hence without causing the jarring and vibration of the craft, which is objectionable in connection with a transversely-bladed paddle-Wheel,- such vibration resulting in the 4o present practice in an early depreciation in the value of the craft.

Various changes in the form', proportion, and the minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantagesvof this invention.-

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. A shallow-water propeller having a shaft,

l 5o radial spokes arranged in parallel transversely-spaced series, parallel series of diagonally-disposed blades secured to the outer ends of the spokes, and transversely-disposed means, connecting thespokes for preventing lateral displacement thereof, and consisting of slats arranged in contact with the inner edges of the blades and combining to form a cylinder, substantially as specied.

2. A shallow-Water propeller havin g spokes arranged in parallel series, and each series having spokes arranged in parallel inner, outer and intermediate planes, diagonallydisposed blades, each of which is secured to spokes in the' inner, outer and intermediate planes of a series, and a shell, arranged in contact with the inner edges of said blades, consisting` of slats, each of which is engaged with a spoke in each series, substantially as specified.

3. A shallow-Water propeller having spokes arranged in parallel series, and each series having spokes arranged in parallel inner, outer and intermediate planes, diagonallydisposed blades, each of which is secured to spokes in the inner, outer and intermediate planes Voi. a series, and a shell arranged in contact with the inner edges of the blades, and consisting o r slats arranged parallel with the axis of the Wheel, each slat being engaged Withrspokes in both series, substantially as speciiied.

4. A shallow-water propeller havin g'spokes arranged inparallel series, and each series having spokes arranged in parallel inner, outer and intermediate' planes, diagonallydisposed blades, each of which is secured to spokes in the inner, outer and intermediate planes of a series, and a shell 4arranged in contact with the inner edges of said blades, and consisting of slats, each of which is overlapped by a plurality of blades, substantially asspecied.

5. A shallow-water propeller having spokes arranged in-parallel series, and each series having spokes arranged in parallel inner, outer and intermediate planes, diagonallydisposed blades, each of which is secured to spokes in the inner, outerand intermediate planes o f a series, and a shell arranged in contact with theinner edges of said blades,and consisting of slats each of which is notched to IOO engage a-plurality of spokes, substantially as Y 

